These TED Talks will help you get ahead at work in 2019

From tech to typography, there’s a concise and fascinating TED talk for everything. With the modern working world in such unpredictable flux, we collected seven of our favourites to shed some light on the workplace of 2019, straight from the experts…

1. Three myths about the future of work (and why they’re not true)

Watch it if… you’re worried about the robots taking over

Executive summary: With the rapid development of AI and other emerging robotic technologies, the question ‘will machines replace humans?’ is likely to be asked more and more often. Susskind(1) confronts this question and three misconceptions we have about our automated future, suggesting we ask something else: How will we distribute wealth in a world when there will be less – or even no – work?

2. How we’ll earn money in a future without jobs

Watch it if… you want to know what we’ll all be doing in 20 years

Executive summary: In a straightforward talk(3) about a controversial idea, Ford makes the case for separating income from traditional work and instituting a universal basic income. The future he sketches has been radically reshaped not just by robots but by the loss of the income-distributing power of human jobs. How will our economic systems need to adapt?

3. How diversity makes teams more innovative

Watch it if… you want to build a better, more robust company

Executive summary: Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out if diverse companies really are more innovative. The answer was a clear yes. In her talk(6), Lorenzo dives into the data and explains how your company can start producing fresher, more creative ideas by treating diversity as a competitive advantage.